GYGO: Banned Memes, Cancelled Esports, and Resurrected Franchises

Welcome to Gygo! I’m Joesph, your local gaming news finder, and I’ve found myself stuck in yet another Oxygen Not Included binge this past week. Of course, that didn’t stop me from finding all these sweet headlines for your reading pleasure!

Memes Cause Censorship of Kingdom Heart’s 3 Trailer in China

Winnie the Pooh the character from kingdom hearts 3 is censored in China because he looks like their president. I am crying of laughter. 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/RSrL452C3M

What do Winnie the Pooh and Peppa Pig have in common? Both of their likenesses are banned in China! In Pooh’s case, this is due to a meme that compares the bear to Chinese president Xi Jinping. The comparison’s mocking tone brought some backlash for the character, causing the movie Christopher Robin to be blocked from release in the Chinese market. More recently, it’s caused some outlets to replace Winnie the Pooh’s likeness in recent Kingdom Heart’s 3 trailers. It’s unknown whether the glowing orb formerly known as Pooh will make it in the final cut of the Chinese localization, but I certainly hope so.

H1Z1’s pro esports league recently shut down midway through its inaugural season. Reports claim that lack of audience interest and the game’s dwindling popularity were to blame. Some have called into question whether or not the $6 million stipend, which was to be split evenly among the teams, had anything to do with the league’s closure, considering the League missed last week’s contractual deadline. Jace Hall, the co-chairman of Twin Galaxies, (which forms one half of the League’s governing body) took to both Twitter and email to deny claims that lack of payment played any part in the closure. Regardless, as of November 21, the team’s stipends were not paid, leaving any team still participating by that point to cover their own costs at a loss.

The Walking Dead Rises From the Grave

By the way, many of the people who were laid off from Telltale still haven't found new jobs, weren't offered the Skybound deal, and as of the end of this month no longer even have the option of buying health insurance through COBRA

Skybound Entertainment, owned by The Walking Dead comic creator Robert Kirkman, is using it’s indie gaming label Skybound Games to produce a new Walking Dead game. They are reportedly bringing in many of the developers from the Telltale Games series, after Telltale famously went under in September. The games would pick up right where Telltale’s series left off, finishing episodes three and four that were left unfinished after the company’s closure. It’s unclear who exactly is being brought on from the old game, how they’ll be compensated, or if steps will be made to provide for the many former Telltale employees still without employment.

Co-writing this episode alongside the brilliant @BenArfmann@jon_paquette + @RaggySays was one of the most fun and formative experiences of my career, and I’m so lucky and grateful I got to work with the amazing SM team at @insomniacgames for a while! 🙏🏼🕸💪🏼🕷

First is Morels, a card game turned phone app hitting iOS and Android this week. It puts players in the position of mushroom foragers, tromping through the forest for some tasty mor(el)sles. It can be played solo, locally, or online, and tasks you with gathering the mushrooms, then cooking them to perfection to beat out all others.

Next is the internet is bad, a game about internet culture by Aimee Zhang and Lori Fu. Wander through a museum of memes and experience the thrilling dread brought on by the realization that our experience on this planet is fleeting. Touch nostalgic relics of the past with digital hands, never truly satisfied by the memories. It’s great fun!

Finally, I have Witchy Workshop, a game about creating the most spectacular Rube Goldberg machine the dark arts can conjure. Witchy Workshop was built to be accessible on older machines, and at a variety of resolutions and levels of animation. Perhaps most importantly you can be a dog that solves puzzles, which as far as I’m concerned is the highlight of the game.

Anyway that’s it for this week’s news. Come back next Wednesday, by which time I may have driven my Oxygen Not Included colony into the ground!

A genderless eldritch beast bound to mortal flesh. Interests include games, gardening, magical realism, and the complete restructuring of America’s political and economic systems. Once designed their own Full Metal Alchemist style transmutation circle for the weeb cred.